Asian Drama

An interesting and unique movie about a messed up 13 year old girl called Sachiko. Her father's dead and her mother tries to kill herself. She feels all alone and alienated so she skips school and hangs out with a couple of misfits whom she feels a connection of sorts. However, happiness doesn't seem to last long for her.

Himura Kenshin is a legendary swordsman who has stopped killing people with his sword. Instead, he uses a dull-edged sword. He tries to live a peaceful life with Kaoru who runs a swordsmanship school in their village. Kenshin's past catches up to him causing the destruction of Akabeko Restaurant, which was Kenshin's favorite place to eat. There, he finds a note with the word 'Jinchuu' on it.

Adapted from the manga series "Rurouni Kenshin" (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚) by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

Momoko is 75-years-old and lives alone. In 1964, Momoko came by herself to Tokyo from her hometown. She met Shuzo and married him. They raised two children together, but Shuzo suddenly passes away. Momoko is dumbfounded by being alone again. She begins to go to the library and borrows books. This changes her life.

Adapted from the novel by Wakatake Chisato.

Set in 1940, Yusaku runs a trading company in Kobe, Japan and he he is married to Satoko. While on a business trip in Manchuria, Yusaku learns of a horrific national secret. For the sake of justice, he decides to let the whole world know about his discovery. Satoko believes Yusaku, who is now accused of being a traitor. She swears to be with Yusaku no matter the consequences.

It was a pre-destined love and marriage for Sonoko and Tetsuo. They tied the knot and became husband and wife no questions asked. All is well then. Well, perhaps not. Each holds a secret that even the bonds of matrimony cannot untie. Sonoko does not know that Tetsuo makes sex dolls or Dutch wives. Sonoko has a secret too. She is about to tell Tetsuo what she has been hiding. Their marriage is already sexless. Will they make it?

The story follows a newbie salaryman named Miyamoto, who works at a stationary company and pushes forward despite his frustration with his own insignificance.

Shohei is now retired from his job as a middle school principal. On his 70th birthday, he tells his wife Yoko, first daughter Mari and second daughter Fumi that he has Alzheimer's disease. First daughter Mari is a housewife with a husband and a child. Second daughter Fum is still single and she agonizes over her life. The three women are embarrassed for Shohei who is losing his memory. One day, Fumi, Mari and Yoko realize that Shohei still holds onto fond memories which they have already forgotten.

Set during the Edo period, Killing is about the life of a ronin and those around him.

This work is a documentary drama that recorded the process until different gorgeous guest actors realize manga each time.

Guest actors talk about their favorite manga and illustrate what kind of approach the actors will approach to making actors to actually play the cartoon characters.

Also, the program challenges the live-action in a special way that an actor enters comic strips.

The Hirata family have a lively household with three generations living under the same roof. One day, the secret stash of money that homemaker Fumie had put aside gets stolen. When her husband Konosuke snidely complains that she was squirreling away his earnings, Fumie loses it and leaves home. Her absence threatens the Hirata household with ruin.

After graduating from college, Hiroshi Miyamoto (Sosuke Ikematsu) begins work as a salesman for a stationary manufacturer. Hiroshi Miyamoto is inexperienced as a salesman and his work doesn't go well. He then falls in love with Misako Koda at first sight. She works as a receptionist for automobile company Toyosan. Hiroshi Miyamoto looks for his chance to talk to her. He finally gets his chance, but ...

Towako still can't forget Kurosaki, even though they broke up 8 years ago. She now lives with a man named Jinji. Jinji is 15 years older than her. Towako hates Jinji who is poor and vulgar, but she lives with him because of his wage. One day, she meets Mizushima who has a wife and kid. He reminds her of Kurosaki. Soon, she has an affair with Mizushima. A detective visits Towako and tells her that Kurosaki is missing.

Based on the novel "Kanojo ga Sono Mei wo Shiranai Toritachi" by Mahokaru Numata.

Rosuke Narumi (Sho Sakurai) works at a trading company and he is pretty good at his job. He dates Satoko Matsubara (Mikako Tabe). The trading company has a business relationship with a private high school experiencing some difficulties. One day, Rosuke Narumi is appointed as the principle of the private high school. Rosuke Narumi soon discovers how different the work environment is from his previous job.

So the school can run in the black, Rosuke Narumi implements cost cutting measures. School staff members including Chihiro Mashiba (Yu Aoi) oppose his plan.

University student Ken Kaneki becomes injured by Rize, a human eating ghoul. Ken is saved when a steel frame falls on the ghoul. They are both sent to the hospital, where Ken receives an organ transplant from Rize. Because of that, he becomes a half ghoul.

Akatsuka Detective Agency stands inconspicuously at Shimo Akatsuka in Tokyo’s Itabashi ward, right above a small snack shop run by their landlord. Akatsuka's eccentric chief Kaze Kaoru founded it with her two investigators Goro and Gure in order to take on odd cases that others are reluctant to do anything about. Their motto is "to be compassionate and meddlesome", which leads them to get involved in strange situations with their clients. Sometimes they're motivated by the potential to sell a sensational story to the press, but sometimes they end up working pro bono. They may be rough around the edges and always a little short on rent, but they always find a creative solution by diving into the mystery with their hearts even when they aren't sure if they'll succeed. They're joined by the Ranko, who first comes to them as a client, and other friends they meet along the way.

Several years after Shuzo settled his wife’s birthday-surprise divorce proposal (What a Wonderful Family, 40th), the Hirata family faces new problems. Ignoring his family’s worry that he is too old to drive, Shuzo takes his old schoolmate for a spin after carousing. Soon, a new disturbance arises for the Hirata family. Veteran director Yamada Yoji continues his comedy about the “perfect“ Japanese family turned upside down in chaos, laughters and understanding. This time, with an additional taste of death.

Haruko Azumi is a 28 year-old woman working in a small office. She begins an awkard loveless half-relationship with an old school friend who works at a convenience store. At the same time a gang of rogue schoolgirls is attacking men at night, and another young woman, Aina, gets involved with two graffiti artists who have created a stencil from a poster of Haruko Azumi's disappearance in 2015, looking for love with either one of them.

Mizuki’s husband Yusuke went missing for 3 years. He suddenly comes back home one day and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel. While...

In his fiftieth year of marriage to Tomiko, Shuzo decides to buy her a birthday present for a change. However, she tells him she wants his seal on an application for divorce. Their children swiftly convene a family meeting.

Mirume (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a 19 year old college student who falls in love with Yuri (Hiromi Nagasaku), an almost 40 year old art teacher at his university. Yuri isn't your typical college professor, having a quirky sense of humor...

Mirume (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a 19 year old college student who falls in love with Yuri (Hiromi Nagasaku), an almost 40 year old art teacher at his university. Yuri isn't your typical college professor, having a quirky sense of humor and unpredictable personality. When Yuri invites Murume to her studio, she playfully seduces the still naive 19 year old student. Things become more complicated when Murume discovers that Yuri is married to a much older man ....

Tomura (Yosuke Eguchi) was once widely lauded as a legendary patissier, but some 8 years ago he inexplicably left the field. Since that time, Tomura has lectured at culinary schools and wrote a guidebook for pastry critics. Natsume (Yu Aoi) is a young woman who travels from Kagoshima to Tokyo to find her boyfriend. Natsume fins a job at "Patisserie Coin de rue" - a pastry shop run by husband & wife tandem Yuriko (Keiko Toda) and Julian (Nathan Berg). At "Patisserie Coin de rue" Natsume works with talented patissier Mariko (Noriko Eguchi) & her fascinating creations. Meanwhile, Tomura is now a regular at "Patisserie Coin de rue" & his encounters with Natsume brings about changes in both of their lives ...

Fuki who lives with her grandfather Shoei in Taketomi Island, Okinawa, dreams of becoming a photographer. In her childhood, her mother Masami left Fuki to live in Tokyo. Although Masami has not come back, Fuki receives birthday cards from Masami every year on her birthday. On Fuki's fourteenth birthday, Masami promises to confess everything when Fuki becomes 20 years old. After her graduation from high school, Fuki moves to Tokyo to work as a camera assistant. Fuki starts off her hectic life in Tokyo, and soon, her nineteenth birthday comes. As usual, she receives a birthday card from Masami. A year later... Uploader's Comments: If you're looking for a relaxing film, this might be you're looking for. I just wish they'd toned down the dorama shenanigans that really spoils the later part, at least for me. But Yu is, as always, sweeter than sugar and could probably melt all the ice of Antarctica if she wanted to. So that lessens the blow considerably. Many thanks to Stythe for once again being the hero we need but perhaps doesn't quite deserve... closedeyes.gif

A 30-year-old single detective (Nagase Tomoya), who is under the illusion that he is popular with females is called 'Unubore' by friends. He is an ultra romantic and susceptible to conceitedness. He has such a strong desire to marry to the extent that he has bought an apartment for his newlywed life. He falls in love with female criminals at first sight each time. While the sheer desire to meet wraps around him, he will get proof that the female is the culprit. And so, he will thrust both the arrest warrant and marriage papers at her, proposing with the words, "If you marry me, I won’t arrest you." If that still does not work, he will hold out an engagement ring and his handcuffs. In the end, the criminal will choose to be arrested and his heart will be broken. He will cry as he puts the handcuffs on her.

Rintaro Hino is a 41-year-old psychiatrist, working at a university hospital. He is an excellent doctor with keen insight and intuition. He even sees the Chief Cabinet Secretary as a patient. Dr. Rintaro has written books and appears as a guest on TV. Some patients have to wait more than 2 months to see him. One day, a woman appears in front of Dr. Rintaro and his life changes because of her.

Handa Sen is the "okami" (proprietress) of a long-standing restaurant in one of the lower parts of Tokyo. Though she is normally airheaded and loves to drink, she has an impressive mastery of a wide range skills, from cooking to ceramics to calligraphy. While the drama follows various events surrounding the restaurant, one of the series' highlights is its illustration of Japanese food and culture. --Tokyograph

Upon entering high school, two best friends named Hana and Alice notice a boy a year older them while waiting for the train, and they both develop a pretty strong crush on him. One day while secretly following him home, Hana witnesses the boy walk right into a wall and pass out. When he wakes up, she lies and convinces him that he must have amnesia, because he doesn't remember the fact that she was his girlfriend. After this, hilarity ensues as the two girls attempt to run with the lie. Of course, complications soon arise.

The series consists of four 3-episode chapters, each handled by a different director. The directors were given freedom in their stories, but they all share a common theme: lies. All of the chapters star Yu Aoi, and each episodes contains a Behind the scenes look at how it was made. The last chapter (Episodes 10 - 12) is a prequel to the movie One Million Yen Girl, where Yu Aoi reprises her role as Suzuko.

On the surface, About Her Brother seems very different from Yoji Yamada’s samurai masterpieces that have reached the U.S. in recent years, films like Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade. However, consistent with those films, and with Yamada’s service as the regular director of the long-running Tora-san series, About Her Brother is, at heart, a contemplative character study with room for both wry humor and tear-jerking emotion – a gentle portrait of fundamentally decent people under stress. The film follows Ginko, a widowed Tokyo pharmacist dealing with her daughter’s marriage and her ne’er-do-well younger brother Tetsuro, whose drunken antics and stubborn refusal to grow up cause her no end of trouble. The title may be Ototo or “younger brother” in Japanese and Yamada may have packed the cast with ringers - Tsurube Shofukutei (Dear Doctor) as Ginko and Yu Aoi (One Million Yen Girl, Hula Girls) - but the film really belongs to Sayuri Yoshinaga. As Ginko, Yoshinaga simultaneously captures affection, exasperation and embarrassment without ever sliding over the edge into caricature. Rated one of Japan's 10 Best Films of 2010.

Shishio has set sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the Meiji government and return Japan to chaos, carrying Kaoru with him. In order to stop him in time, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.

Kenshin Himura goes up against pure evil Makoto Shishio who is attempting to overthrow the Meiji government. The fate of the country hangs in the balance as Kenshin Himura takes up the sword that he vowed to never draw again.

Former legendary assassin Kenshin Himura (Takeru Sato) has now become a wandering samurai. Offerring aid & protecting those in need as atonement for his past deeds. During this time Kenshin Himura comes across and aides Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). Her father opened the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, a kendo school located in Tokyo and Kaoru is now an instructor there. Kaoru then invites Kenshin to stay at her dojo. Their relationship develops further, but Kenshin is still haunted by his violent past ...

No Longer Human" tells the story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, & suicide ... Yozo Oba (Toma Ikuta) was born into a wealthy family in Tsugaru. As a child he practiced smiling to hide his true feelings and to get along with others. His classmate Dakeichi found out about Yozo's eccentric behavior and told others about him. But Dakeichi also told Yozo a strange prediction about his life ... that he will become popular with the ladies and draw beautiful pictures. During Yozo's high school years he moved to Tokyo. In Tokyo he meets Horiki (Yusuke Iseya), a guy six years older than him. Horiki is known for being a player and one day drags Yozo to the Blue Flower Bar run by Madame Ritsuko (Michiyo Ookusu). At the bar there is poet Chuya Nakahara (Go Morita) who proclaims "war is brown like the color of shit". Yozo doesn't say anything as he takes in the environment. Yozo starts to drink more often and starts to live the fast life like Horiki. Like Dakeichi's prediction, Yozo also becomes popular with the ladies and always has a woman next to him. But, Yozo starts to become sick of this lifestyle. At a cafe, Yozo meets Hisako (Shinobu Terajima) a women who lets him drink without paying. Yozo senses that Hisako feels a heavy sense of loneliness like himself. One day Yozo and Hisako attempts to kill themselves out in the Sea of Kamakura. Hisako dies, but Yozo survives. His family then takes Yozo to a sanitarium ...

Based on the heartwarming debut picture book from well-known manga artist Saibara Rieko (‘Everyday Mom’). Popular child actor Fukazawa Arashi (Helen and the Baby Fox) stars as a boy who enjoys an affectionate relationship with the strange little creature Ike-chan in this touching drama. Good Bye, My Secret Friend marks commercial director Oooka Toshihiko’s feature film debut, for which he also wrote the screenplay. Able to change color and shape at will, Ike-chan is warmly rendered with the latest CGI techniques, creating a fantasy world touched with the bittersweet pain of real life. Yoshio (Fukazawa) is a very impressionable 9-year-old boy who’s always accompanied by a strange little creature named Ike-chan (voiced by Aoi Yu) that only he can see. Ike-chan comforts Yoshio when he’s bullied at school and gives him courage when he’s scared of being alone at night. On the other hand, when Yoshio becomes friendly with girls, Ike-chan turns bright red with anger. Ike-chan helps Yoshio overcome the problems of childhood, but as Yoshio gets older Ike-chan gradually disappears from sight.

Mozu vows revenge and infiltrates Japan as a North Korean agent. The suspension of a murder case investigation is announced suddenly without a clear explanation. The incident involves numerous people who were killed at a hospital. Political intrigue seems behind the case. Kuraki (Hidetoshi Nishijima), Osugi (Teruyuki Kagawa) and Miki (Yoko Maki) try to reveal the conspiracy which is about to be hidden. 

Tooru (Kenichi Matsuyama ) spent his childhood living on the Tateyama Mountain Range with his father. He rebelled against his strict father and he now works as a trader in the financial world. One day, Tooru learns that his father has died. He travels back to the Tateyama Mountain Range for his father's funeral. Eventually, Tooru decides to stay on the mountains. He decides to takeover his father's cottage. At first, Tooru finds difficulties living on the mountain again, but soon he becomes healed by nature. A strange man then appears and introduces himself as Goro (Etsushi Toyokawa), a friend of his late father's.

Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 masterpiece Tokyo Story is regarded by many as the greatest film in the history of Japanese cinema, a finely wrought tale of human fragility amidst the rampant social upheaval of post-war Japan.

In Tokyo Family, 81-year-old modern master Yôji Yamada transports Ozu's opus to the Japan of today - a country where economic hope has waned and the threat to tradition is more pronounced than ever.

Elderly Shukichi and Tomiko swap their remote island home for Tokyo to spend some time with their three grown-up and very different children. Overcome with the stresses of the city, the kids absently shuffle their parents from one to the other, but when Tomiko has a stroke, everything they thought they valued is thrown into devastating relief...

The murder of Emili, a young girl, leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The raped body of Emily is found by the four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother Asako is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim that they don't remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do their penance for their silence. Deeply struck by the words of Asako and burdened with her curse, the four girls are forced into adulthood which eventually triggers a tragic chain of events.

Adapted from the novel by Kanae Minato.

Leo, a young Japanese college student, travels to Hawaii and eventually falls in love with Maray, an older Japanese-Caucasion woman.

Some time between the Meiji and Taisho period... A mother and son walk through heavy rain. The son, YOKI, sees strange, iridescent creatures float from the mountainside and then disappear. He does not yet know such creatures are called "Mushi" and can not be seen by ordinary men. Suddenly, there is a landslide and Yoki's mother is swallowed by the flood. A Mushishi woman named NUI finds the child, who miraculously survived, and takes him home with her...

Some years later, we meet Yoki again as an adult. Having lost his memory in an incident he can not recall, he is now called "GINKO." He is a "Mushishi," one who studies the Mushi he could see as a child and protects ordinary men from the illnesses that they inflict. He travels alone through the thick mountain snow, looking for a night's lodging. We see that his hair is white like the snow and one of his eyes is now missing...

Ginko makes his way to a house where a young woman named TANYU has fallen ill. Born to a family with a strong connection to Mushi, Tanyu records the ancient stories of the Mushi onto scrolls. She fell ill after she heard a tale from a blind Mushishi woman. The woman told her about how she had fought off a powerful Mushi called "Tokoyami," which lived at the bottom of a pond, and about an eyeless fish which lived at the bottom of the Tokoyami called "Ginko." Her extended exposure to the pond turned her hair white and took her eyes...

In the basement library of Tanyu's house, Ginko reads the scroll containing the tale of the blind Mushishi woman. It sounds strangely familiar to him, as if he has heard the story before... the story of a boy named "Yoki," the sole survivor of a landslide...

A Tokyo suburb with a middle American feel, the city of Fussa is home to a US military base with its wide avenues, second-hand clothing stores peddling American merchandise and bars catering largely to G.I.s.

Shiro is a 17-year-old Fussa native, fresh from high school graduation, who finds himself standing in that ambivalent "no man's land" between adolescence and adulthood, ready to strike out on his own but uncertain whether to trust his underdeveloped instincts. He shirks off college, much to the dismay of his conventional parents who barely register in his life, and takes a job at a gas station for no other reason than a vague ambition to do something with cars. For guidance and moral support, Shiro turns to his offbeat, septuagenarian grandmother, "Fujiko", a perennial "flower child" and pro-American who owns a local watering hole and celebrates life with a romantic corps de esprit that she's preserved since her halcyon youth. It is "Grandma" who wields the greatest influence on Shiro's spiritual and moral upbringing and she takes to the role of mentor with the passion of a sacred mission. "Working at a gas station's a great idea, " she tells him. "So full of romance. A rest stop for life's drifters. I'll handle your father on this one."

While Shiro still races around town on his bicycle and rents porn flicks with his boyhood pals, he's keenly reminded that this part of life is quickly ending when he sees his two best friends willingly trade in their childhood pursuits for college and "true love" − of the same girl. "I've yet to know what that feels like," confesses Shiro, who has a sense of the vital role love plays in a person's coming of age but feels personally removed from it. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, however, Shiro stumbles across a public breakup scene one evening between a man in a white car and a college girl, Noriko. Days later, Shiro is surprised to see the same girl arrive at the gas station as the newly-hired help, and even more alarmed at his loss of composure in front of her. He is love-struck, and his bittersweet initiation into adult life begins.

Hula Girl is a true story set in the 60s. Stricken by the recession due to the adoption of oil as a primary energy resource, the charcoal mine of Joban, in Iwaki city, decides to relay on tourism and to use the hot springs on its territory to create the 'Joban Hawaian Center', spa resort and theme park of Hawaian inspiration. To fulfill this project, the mine direction creates a hula dance troop, facing the incredulity and even the opposition of the majority of the population.

Hula Girl tells the struggle of those young women who chose to enter the dance troop.

Tetsu Susumu, an introspective, somewhat rebellious teen who lives with his family on a Hokkaido animal ranch. Owned and operated by his feisty mother Saori and his bumbling stepfather, the ranch is essentially an animal talent agency, since the family rents out their animals to television stations and movie studios to put food on the table. Unfortunately, Tetsu's unconventional home life makes him the target of constant harassment by his classmates, who claim he stinks of animals. Clearly, Tetsu's days at school aren't exactly the best days of his life.

But as the family business starts to take a turn for the worse, Saori decides to take a risk to improve the situation, selling a few of her barnyard creatures in order to buy an animal she's wanted for years - an elephant! Tetsu quickly bonds with Mickey the elephant, essentially becoming an "Elephant Whisperer" with a knack for communicating with the giant beasts. Soon, a second elephant is added to the mix, but Little Randy proves to be more than the family bargained for, as Tetsu himself finds him difficult to train. A solution presents itself when Tetsu learns of a special school in Thailand for "Mahouts" (elephant trainers). After some initial resistance from Saori, she eventually gives in to her son's demands, allowing Tetsu to make the journey to Chang Mai.

In this challenging new phase in his life, Tetsu must learn Thai, win over his skeptical fellow students, and tame a wild little elephant named Farr to prove his mettle. After completing his stay in Thailand, Tetsu returns to Japan with the dream of one day establishing a sanctuary for elephants. Along the way, he develops a romance with a local girl named Emi and tries to mend the already strained relationship he has with his mother and stepfather.

Humanity has always been obsessed with the idea of somehow regaining our youth and going back to our childhood. But what would happen if that dream became a reality? Would that really bring happiness… or tragedy?

Yuko has a promising career in journalism ahead of her, and is happily married to Satoru, a younger man. But an unfortunate event turns their world upside down, and leads Yuko into a desperate attempt to regain her youth. She drinks a potion that begins a “de-aging” process, only to find out that once started the process cannot be stopped! Yuko and Satoru are forced to reexamine her life and their marriage, and their love for each other. And Yuko must somehow find a way to return to halt the process, or dire consequences await.

This touching story not only explores the question of lost youth but also takes a hard look at what it really means to love someone.

Set during the Edo Period, a young man from a noble family meets a young woman under a special tree called "Raiou" (the tree was struck by lightning at one time with the broken part eventually sprouting out cherry blossoms). The young woman lived freely in the mountains after she was abducted as a young child. The couple soon fall in love under the Raiou tree, but become acutely aware of their different social positions & the ramifications it has on their relationship. Narimichi (Okada Masaki), born to the high ranking Tokugawa family, spends his sheltered days bored and lonely. One night, the family retainer, Seta Sukejiro (Koide Keisuke) tells Narimichi of a story involving Tenku, a monster who resides in the mountains near his hometown of Setamura. Narimichi is fascinated by the tale and heads off to Setamura with Seta Sukejiro. Rai (Aoi Yu) lives on the mountains near Setamura. She lives with her foster father Riemon (Tokito Saburo). 20 years ago Riemon refused orders to kill young Rai over disputes of water rights and since then has raised her as his own child. Rie often threatens villagers who come into the mountains to not damage the mountains. On the way to Setamura, Narimichi decides to ride alone into the mountains to where the rumored Tenku lives. There he comes across Rai. Narimichi, now back in Setamura, tells Sukejiro of a female Tenku he came across in the mountains. Sukejiro responds that he is sure the woman he saw is his younger sister Yu - who was kidnapped 20 years ago. Rie, who was told by her foster father to go live with her birth family, then comes to live in the village of Setamura as Yu. Narimichi and Yu meet once again near the lightning tree. Yu, having grown up alone in the mountains, knows nothing of the class system & treats Narimichi in a frank, honest way. They are both attracted to each other...